LA CANADA – Nevermind the reason, but Chaminade High School’s stubbornness in continually pressing throughout the second half despite little to no positive results proved beneficial for La Canada.

Senior guard Tia Chen made the visiting Eagles pay after not succumbing to the constant double and, at times, triple teaming. In fact, her deft ball-handling skills came in handy, as she waltzed past defenders to keep the offense flowing and helped the Spartans withstand the Eagles’ frantic attack in a 45-41 semifinal win in the New Year’s Ball Tournament on Wednesday night.

The host Spartans (12-2) will play for the championship at 4:30 p.m. today against Serra, which beat Canyon 58-44 later Wednesday.

If there ever was a game La Ca ada fought hard to win, this would be it.

Chaminade (10-4) tied it at 32 with 7:17 left in the fourth quarter and got to within 40-38 with 1:24 left, but that’s as close as the Eagles got.

La Canada took advantage of three empty Eagles possessions down the stretch, punctuated by an air ball from behind the 3-point arc, much to the chagrin of Chaminade coach Kelli Dimuro, who ran the play after a timeout.

La Canada’s Grace O’Hara caught the air ball and passed it to Chen, who then was shoved by a frustrated Travis Newman of Chaminade. Chen sank the first free throw and stared at Newman. That was followed by La Ca ada coach Tamar Hill barking at Chen to keep focused.

Chen missed the second free throw, but with 4.1 seconds left and the Spartans leading 45-41, the game was all but over.

Chen finished with 19 points, four rebounds, four assists, a block and a steal to lead La Canada. To say she worked hard for those numbers would be an understatement: She constantly faced moving screens and got tangled with Brooke Kassel with 5:18 left in the third quarter, causing Chen to grimace in pain after her left shoulder got the brunt of it.

“They were trying to instigate Tia a little bit,” Hill said.

Nevertheless, it was Chen’s steady hand that kept the Spartans in the game.

“She’s just relentless,” Hill said. “She’s a competitor and just battles all the time and kept her head up. They were gunning for her, and she still kept running the offense.”

That the Eagles continued pressing through much of the second half was something Hill had little problem with.

“I figured they must have had their reasons,” she said. “But once we broke or passed that first line, it was easy to pass and have a layup drill. It was nice that (Tia) was able to take care of the ball.”

Shannon Denney was in early foul trouble and saw limited action midway; she finished with 10 points and seven rebounds. In her place stepped sophomore forward Maggie Kolina, whose seamless transition kept the strong inside presence afloat. Chaminade’s Annie Tarakchian was a victim of that, and her rhythm was disrupted a bit en route to a quiet 22 points.

O’Hara added 10 points and five rebounds, but the always- reliable Courtney McCutchan struggled offensively and finished with two points. Her stifling defense, however, frustrated Chaminade, particularly Newman, who ran into a virtual wall with McCutchan guarding her.